February is a short month. February also tends to be the doldrums of education. The students lose their “September optimism” for a fresh start. They come back in January, after winter break, realizing that we are right where we left off but more, because of testing. In Michigan, it is cold and grey outside and the kids are ready for the sunshine and warmth that comes with spring.

To counter this, I have switched seats. Our science is more hands-on engineering and exploration. We are also learning on an individual level with access to IXL. IXL is adaptive questions that meet the child where they are at. They can work on skill practice which is a combination of math, reading, and grammar. I can also have your child work on specific learning goals linked to their NWEA.

Also, our Benchmark Unit 5 is about technology. The third week was specifically about writing to someone via email. I’m going to teach the students how to message me using Schoology. I will also teach them how to read to me by recording a video and sending the video. During the hybrid learning of 2020/2021 my students and I communicated back and forth with messages as well as lots and lots of videos.

Hopefully, this will perk up our February routines. My goal is to motivate and spark a passion for learning.

Dearborn Public Schools: Student Portal

If your child has access to a tablet or a computer device, then please have them spend some time on IXL, Zearn, and Raz-Kids. Here is a hyperlink to get you started. It would be good to make a bookmark of it for your first grader.

http://dearbornschools.org

Clever will take your child to IXL. (Geer Park paid for our access.)

Schoology will take your child to Zearn (this matches our math) and RAZ-KIDS. (I paid for our access to RAZ-KIDS.) Your child should read a bit on RAZ-KIDS every day. It has reading and comprehension built in and it will level up when your child has completed all the books (listen, read, and quiz) at their current level.

• Monday, January 30 – Pizza Monday – $1 a slice
• Tuesday, January 31 – Krispy Kreme Donut Delivery – These were pre-ordered last week.
• Wednesday, February 1 – Parent Education Meeting at 9:30 (Your child will get a free popcorn ticket with your attendance. They love their free popcorn.)

Valentine’s Day is Tuesday, February 14th. I will be having a small party in the classroom with a snack, Valentine’s Day bingo, and hand-out and open Valentines. If you would like to buy and work on Valentines with your first grader, please remember we have 20 kids. Out of kindness and friendship, your child should make a Valentine for each friend. Here is a list of names:

• Abdallah
• Cori
• Emanuel
• Elene
• Layan
• Afnan
• Miliah
• Hamzah
• Hesham
• Zayden
• Mohamad
• Lilian
• Mohamed
• Noah
• Jeremy
• Jamal
• Jayla
• Jebriel
• Abraham
• Abbas

ELA

Reading Groups – Small group instruction will start again on Monday. PLEASE, have your child read to you. Old books are for fluency and comprehension. (Your child should not have to sound out any words for an old book.) New books are to expand their reading vocabulary.

Writer’s Workshop – We will finish our informational writing about the Sun on Monday. The first grade team will decide if we are going to model one more or if we are going to assess their informational writing on Tuesday.

Spelling – I must say that last week was not the best way to start off our spelling grades. The students who completed all 4 spelling homework got a perfect or near-perfect score.

Week 16

• vine
• mine
• line
• life
• strife
• slice
• rice
• nice
• after
• her
• call
• large

Math

We are almost finished with Module 2. We have 4 lessons about number stories this week and a quiz on Friday, February 3rd. The picture and number sentences are crucial for understanding. Next week, we will break apart 2-digit numbers into 10s and ones and have a quiz on Friday, February 10th. The Module 2 final assessment will be on Monday, February 13.

Science

We learned that some stars have been named by scientists. Our star is named Sun. It is not the biggest star. It is not the hottest star. It is not the oldest star. The Sun is the closest star. The Sun is the center of our Solar System. The Planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune revolve around the Sun because of its gravitational pull. It takes 365 days (one Earth year) to revolve around the Sun. Finally, we learned that it looks like the Sun is moving across the sky each day, but actually, the Earth is spinning on its axis. (One revolution is 24 hours which is 1 day.)

We will learn about how the seasons are caused by the Earth having a tilted axis and the revolution around the Sun. Then we will learn about the Moon. It is a satellite of the Earth.

Social Studies

To go with Science, we will learn about landforms and bodies of water on the Earth. There are many types of landforms, but we will learn about plains, hills, and mountains. The same can be said for bodies of water, but we will be learning about rivers, lakes, and oceans.

Due to time constraints, I might not be able to fit all of my goals this week, but I will try.

Have a great weekend and week.

Mrs. Korte

Reading Assessments are finished. Report cards are done. We are starting our 3rd week back after the new year, so homework will be Math Homework, Spelling Homework, and Reading Group books.

• Monday, January 23 – 1/2 day of School – The students will be released at 12:05
• Friday, January 27 – 2:15 is the Core Values Assembly: Honesty

The second quarter report cards are completed. The District will print them on either Monday or Tuesday. Then they will be sent to the school. I will send the report cards home as soon as I get them. Please remember…Exceeding first grade expectations is a 1. Meeting first grade expectations is a 2. (This is our goal.) Making progress with first grade expectations is a 3. A concern is a 4.

Yes, I did see a couple drops from a 1 to a 2 or from a 2 to a 3. Remember, it takes only a few off grades to drop your child’s average grade in the computer program. I did not give the grades. I simply entered your child’s scores into the program. Also, remember that first grade continues to get trickier as the year progresses. We are constantly learning new information.

Things to help your child improve:

• Have your child complete the math homework and send it back to school.
  • It is important that it is written neatly.
    • I notice the most errors on quizzes and summative assessments because their math picture is messy and children miss counts.
• Have your child complete the 4 spelling practice activities.
  • Printing is important. All of the students can write nicely when they are not rushing.
  • If you would like me to model how to have them practice at home. Just let me know.
• Reading Group Books
  • I will start to send book bags this week. It is crucial that your first grader read the books to you. Yes, they should read them over and over again to be fluent.
  • When they read to you, please sign the literacy card.

Geer Park is having a Krispy Kreme donut fundraiser for the school starting on Monday. I believe it is a dollar for each donut. So it would be 12$ for a dozen donuts. Your child would order in advance and there will be a delivery day.

When I get more information, I will forward it to you.

ELA

Reading – All of the reading assessments are complete. I will start up small group reading instruction this week. PLEASE have your child read their books every day. I will send the bag every day. The literacy card will only be in the bag on the day that your child has a reading group with me.

Writer’s Workshop – We just finished our informational writing about a job. We will continue with informational writing. Our goal is to pick up the pace.

Spelling – Ugh! This week is going to be tricky. The patterned words have a soft c and a soft g. A soft c makes an s sound. A soft g makes a j sound. Please start practicing now.

• race
• face
• lace
• brace
• age
• page
• cage
• wage
• try
• give
• far
• too

MATH

We are going to be learning to apply a math drawing to solve lots and lots of number stories. I always read the number story, but your child can start to read them too. This is REALLY good practice. Your child must be able to make a math drawing, write a number sentence, and write a statement. We will also review the equal sign as meaning equivalent expressions.

SCIENCE

We will be learning about Earth and Space during science. We will look at patterns during the day and patterns at night. We will also learn about the Earth, Sun, Moon, and stars.

SOCIAL STUDIES

We will be focusing on Science for a while, but when I return to Social Studies, we will be learning about geography.

Thank you for your support. Remember, if you need to contact me, please just write a note and send it in your child’s take home folder or email me at kortej@dearbornschools.org.

Mrs. Korte

January is going to be crazy. We are trying to get back into the swing of things by practicing routines, rules, and expectations. Several parents expressed concern that I didn’t send home the spelling words or homework last week. Again, per the newsletter, from last week, we are going slow to go fast. That includes me asking you for help.

As a parent, I know it is exhausting to get back into the school routine after a long break. So…last week, I only sent home the math homework. We did all of the spelling practice and homework in class to practice what I expect. The kids did really well on their spelling test too.

This week, I will send home the math and spelling homework. Finally, during our last full week of January, I will send home math, spelling, and reading homework.

I didn’t want to overwhelm you. We are in this together and I don’t want to lose you as my teaching partner. Thank you for your constant support and patience.

• Monday, January 16 – NO SCHOOL The observance of Dr. Martin Luther King, jr’s birthday. We learned about him and some of his teachings on Friday. I will continue this lesson on Tuesday.
• Thursday, January 19 – POPCORN SALE $1 per bag.
• Friday, January 20 – HALF DAY OF SCHOOL – morning only The afternoon I will be finishing and submitting all grades into the District Gradebook for the second report card. (This is the last day of the second quarter.)

ELA

• Reading – I will be finishing the Developmental Reading Assessment this week. Small group reading will resume next week.
• Writer’s Workshop – We are writing an informational piece about a specific job. Your child is learning to write facts about a topic. In this situation, we picked one job to teach our audience.
• Spelling
  • hope
  • rope
  • nope
  • noes
  • those
  • chose
  • spoke
  • joke
  • find
  • how
  • over
  • under

MATH

We are using a group of ten to help make subtraction easier. This week we will take 8 and 7 away from ten.

SCIENCE

During our ELA benchmark lessons, we are learning about technology and how it helps make our life easier.

SOCIAL STUDIES

We are finishing our unit on economics. So far, we have learned about:

• Families – A family can be different shapes and sizes.
• Needs and Wants – We NEED food, water, shelter, clothing, and love to survive. We want other things like special shoes, toys, cars, vacations, etc.
• Jobs – A job is work people do to earn money.
• Money – Money is used to get what we need and want.
• Goods – Goods are things certain jobs make or grow for people to buy.
• Service – Some jobs provide a service. A service is something that is done for you.
• Producer – Jobs that grow or make goods for you to buy or provide a service to you are called a producer.
• Consumer – A consumer is a person buying goods or paying for a service, like a haircut.

This week we will learn about trading. Trading can be used to consume goods and services too. For example, your first grader could mow the lawn to get you to buy them a toy. That is a trade. We will review that money is just a simple trade. You trade the store money for the toy.

My goal is to take the Unit 2 social studies test before Friday morning.

Thank you for your support. Have a great weekend.

Mrs. Korte

I hope you all had a wonderful winter break and a Happy New Year!

This will be brief. As an educator and a parent, I don’t think it is fair to jump back into school and immediately expect the same pace and rigor. We will go slow to go fast. I have missed your children. I am excited to see them.

FYI…the classroom might look slightly different because it flooded on December 24th. I will do my best to get things back to normal.

Please give your first grader lots of hugs and enjoy your evening together. Take the time to relax.

Mrs. Korte